From Bride to Corpse
by LegendaryBookWolf
Summary: How did Emily die at a quarter to three? The film explained it but not very well so I decided to do this. Summary sucks so please read and review as I would love to know what people think. I do not own the brilliant corpse bride.
1. Chapter 1

So I recently became very interested in the corpse bride and how she died so I wrote this, enjoy!

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Emily cursed under her breathe as the candelabra clattered to the floor. She froze in the darkness, waiting for her parents to burst into the room and stop her. There was a creak and then silence. She sighed in relief as she recognised that the creak was just her parents' bed as one of them shifted their position whilst they slept.

She picked up the candelabra and placed it back onto her bedside carefully. She brushed her brown hair behind her ear and pulled her cloak around her shoulders, concealing her mothers wedding dress. She felt guilty wearing it. Especially as she was going to marry someone her parents didn't agree with. If only they got to know him… he wasn't just some poor wanderer, he was the man of her dreams.

She slipped three golden family rings onto her fingers and placed a sapphire necklace around her neck, perfect. Gathering the satchel of gold, she checked the clock one last time in the light of the moon. 2:30. She had half an hour to get to their special place under the old oak tree. Her heels broke the silence with every step as she made for the door and closed it with a slight bump.

She hurried past her parents room and stood outside the door. This was the right thing to do, they didn't understand.

"I'm sorry… I love you." she whispered outside the door and hurried towards the oak door at the front of the manor. She heaved it open and stepped into the night. Willing the door not to creak as it closed. She breathed out in relief, she had made it out, no one had seen her.

oOo

Emily reached the clearing by the old oak tree and checked her pocket watch. 2:40. She still had time. She allowed the cloak to fall around her shoulders and to the ground, her bare legs and arms slightly cold in the night air. She dropped the satchel and sat on an old tree stump, looking up at the moon. It was a full moon, something she had insisted on for the night of her wedding. And it was so beautiful, so perfect. The only problem was the graveyard by the church making the scene slightly spooky for her liking. The church… where she and Lord Barkis were to be married. He may not have money but the moment he stepped into town he had took her breathe away. He had sold everything he owned looking for her, the town beauty known for miles around.

 _Then next to the graveyard by the old oak tree._

 _On a dark foggy night at a quarter to three._

 _She was ready to go but where was he?_

A ghostly breeze ruffled the blue petals of the flowers in her bouquet.

 _And then?_

 _She waited._

A branch cracked behind her and she got up, turning her head with her hand to her mouth.

 _And then?_

Emily turned her head in the other direction, a shadow seemed to move between the trees.

 _There in the shadows, was it her man?_

"Lord Barkis? My love?" she breathed out and adjusted the gloves on her hands.

 _Her little heart beat so loud._

"Emily?"

"Barkis!" Emily ran towards the man and flung her arms around his neck and hugged him. He hugged her back but she didn't see the wicked smile forming on his face.

"I was so scared you wouldn't come! Come with me to the church!" she broke the hug and began to pull on his arm towards the church where a small light was shining but there was no movement.

"My dear, come down. We shall be wed but you mustn't forget the gold." he managed to hide his anticipation for money, only just.

"Of course, of course. How silly of me!" she hurried over to the satchel and heaved it into her arms and turned to Lord Barkis… a silver knife glinting in the moonlight.

"My love? Is everything all right?" her heart began to beat faster and faster, almost as if it would burst through her chest. Barkis began to laugh, quietly at first but then his cackles filled the night.

"You stupid girl! You were easier to trick than the last wench!"

"What do you mean?" her voice was serious but she couldn't mask the fear.

"We're not getting married, even if we made it to the church that blasted elder gutknect would be dead!"

"You've killed him! Then why am I hear?!" her voice was starting to crack but she managed to hold back the tears. Her smooth skin was becoming red with anger.

"I marry girls and steal their wealth and then leave them for dead! And you my pretty were the easiest to trick!" he lunged at her with the knife in his hand and at that anger boiled up inside of Emily. She may have been tricked but he wasn't getting her family fortune. She turned, the satchel of gold still in her hand and started to run. The leaves beneath her heels crunching with every step. But she was too slow for him. In a matter of seconds, he had caught up with her, grabbing hold of her arm roughly and swinging the knife towards her face. She jerked her head back but not before she felt her cheek slice open, blood staining her skin and the blade. The satchel dropped to the floor as a hand flew to her cheek. Barkis was laughing at her as her eyes widened, no one had ever treated her like this, _serves me right for being so naive_ she thought.

But Barkis still had the knife. He cackled one last time as Emily turned, hands coming up to her face to defend her.

 _And then?_

She felt the dagger bite into her flesh. Just below her left breast and into her ribcage. Barkis smiled at her silent scream and twisted the dagger the other way, causing her sweet blood to trickle onto the blade, onto his hands and drip to the floor. He pulled the dagger out and watched as Emily curled up into a ball on the floor. His tongue cleaned his fingers and the blade, taking in every drop of blood and savouring it. Throwing the dagger to the side, he knelt down besides the bride and pushed her onto her back, her chest heaving with her lasts breathes.

Emily looked into the man's face, not a hint of guilt on it as he stroked her cheek with a finger.

"Till death do us part..." he whispered. His hands snaked around her neck and unclasped the necklace and then sliding the rings off her delicate fingers. He left them to one side and then stared at Emily. She saw his eyes widen as an idea came to his mind but she couldn't stop him as his hands started to explore her weak body. It made her cringe to simply lie there, not able to fight back and she felt weak, exposed and betrayed. Her parents were right, this was no man, this was a monster.

He bet down and kissed her on her ruby lips, his hand pulling roughly at her hair, pulling some strands out. Slowly he pulled away and looked at her with pity.

"Shame you have to die so quickly, I could have had a bit more fun." he cackled and she stared up at the sky, listening as he gathered her wealth into the satchel and left her on the forest floor. The moon seemed to look down on her, pitying her and her death. But she didn't want pity from anyone, she just wanted to sleep. She felt her blood stain her dress, her mothers dress as a lone tear rolled down her cheek and she looked up at the moon and closed her eyes.

 _And then baby, everything went black._

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Hoped you like that and please review! I put elder gutknect as the priest as I always wondered how Emily knew him and just decided I would do this. Depending on the amount of reviews (maybe 10?) then I'll write a chapter of when Emily wakes up. Thanks for reading! ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Been a while since I last wrote and it was lovely to come back to such nice reviews! Thanks guys! So here is when Emily wakes up. Hope you enjoy!

(PS: I made some very slight changes to the first chapter because I noticed a few typos. Not really anything more, just the bit where Barkis says about elder gutknect.)

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She seemed to be falling. Falling down and down and down and not stopping. But was it falling? Felt more like flying, but almost as if in a dream. She also felt a little empty, perhaps eating something when she woke up would help.

It wasn't long before Emily felt herself slow down and stop, she hadn't opened her eyes yet so couldn't see anything but knew that wherever she was, the grass was dead and there was no wind. But she liked it here, sort of. It was a bit quiet but other than that it was… OK.

Emily opened her eyes and sat up, looking around. Perhaps this really _was_ a dream, one of those that felt so real. She was lying in a forest, the trees all dead and depressing yet with a certain dark beauty about them. It was then that she realised that she was wearing a dress, a wedding dress. This was certainly a funny dream so why not explore?

Her dress trailing behind her, Emily made her way to a nearby town. The roads where full of clutter and shops held human body parts that both amused and revolted the girl as she wandered past. Decrepit figures sat hunched at every corner, head down and some thinner than should be possible (they seemed to have missing limbs making her wonder about the shops) but not one asked her for money or begged her for food nor grabbed her dress as she strolled by.

A few minutes later, Emily entered a pub. If you could call it that. It was massive with blood red and black as night dirty carpets and curtains and glasses that could have been 1000 years old and chairs that were falling to pieces. She went up to the bar and signalled to a woman in her late 50s for a drink. Her order was slid across the bar towards her and she raised it to her lips, the cold liquid running down her throat…

Images flashed before her eyes. A forest, a man, a knife, blood…. This dream had turned into a nightmare and as she toppled back off her chair, she dropped her glass, smashing it into a thousand pieces and piercing the skin on her arm. But no blood appeared, only a clean cut… in blue skin?

"Oi missy! You alright?" the barmaid shouted at her.

"Where am I!? Why is there no blood!?" she screamed, waving her arm around to emphasize her point.

"You're new here aren't you?" the barmaid said calmly. Emily nodded her head vigorously, speechless.

"Sit down, I'll get you another drink."

"No drink! That did something to me!" she sat down on another stool, leaving the one she had been sitting on on the floor.

"Now, I've had to have this talk plenty of times before and to be honest it's become a bit boring so I'm just gonna say it. You're dead. This is what we call downstairs and my drinks help people remember how they died so that they might have some way of knowing how to move on. What you just saw was your death." the barmaid looked at her glumly whilst cleaning a glass. It didn't make sense, wasn't she supposed to go to heaven or something?

"I don't understand… is this heaven? And what do you mean by 'move on'?"

"This is no heaven dear. People come here when they have died and have unfinished business. When they have figured out what that business is they either choose when to move on up to what you call heaven. And before you ask, my drinks show people their deaths but not those responsible for it. I don't know why, they just do."

Emily tried to take this all in. She was staring at her hands, icy blue and cold as death. Her hair was no longer lush but dull and just below her left breast was a hole, a perfect fit for a silver dagger. Slowly, she got up and left the pub with her head down and a single tear staining her hollow cheeks.

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So I hoped you enjoyed that. I've got an idea on how Emily copes with all this so there will be more in future but I think I'll keep these relatively short depending on my mood. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

As the pub door closed behind her. Emily barely noticed that there was no breeze. Slowly, she walked away from the pub with her head down and her eyes constantly scanning her blue hands and wondering, this **must** be a dream. It just had to be. Yes, it was. She was just so nervous about her marriage that she was having this horrible dream and would soon wake up to sneak to the graveyard.

"But now that I know it's a dream, how do I wake up?" she said to herself. She raised a hand and pinched the skin on her forearm. But it didn't hurt and it certainly didn't wake her up. She tried again, this time digging her nails in and piercing her blue flesh. But it still didn't hurt. She started to panic, looking up she started to notice more than before. The hunched figures at the corners missed body parts, had gaping holes here and there and one man was split clean in two. She ran towards him with fear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry sir but I have to ask, am I really dead!? Are you!?" she shouted. The man's left side looked up at her, noticing the wedding dress and the fresh look that new comers bore.

"I'm afraid so dear. You might want to find someone you know down here. An old man came down not long before you. Gut wreck I think his name was. Anyway, he went to that big tower over there." his right side pointed up to a tower on the other side of town. "Funny guy he was, seemed to know what was going on instead of panicking like everyone else." he chuckled to himself as Emily thanked him.

oOo

Her heels hit the stone hard with each step. Surprisingly, they didn't brake or even falter under her weigh as she rushed up to the top of the tower. She burst into the doors without even knocking and saw him, elder Gutknect standing with another man who was only bones at the top of another smaller staircase surrounded by books and papers.

"Emily? What are you doing down here?"

"That's what I need to ask you. We seem to be… to be… dead!"

"Sit down dear, I just need to finish this and I'll be right with you." he turned back to the skeleton and they resumed their conversation. Emily sat down on a pile of books, trying to gather her thoughts but at the same time wondering why Gutknect was so calm about all this. She placed her head in her hands and it wasn't until there was a loud bang that she looked up to see Gutknect next a plume of blue smoke. The Skeleton man had disappeared and Gutknect was smiling sadly.

"Now dear, allow me to explain." he came down the stairs and towards her.

"Yes, we are dead. The fact that we died at a similar time to each other is a mystery to me, including that beautiful dress you're wearing. No, I don't know how either of us died but if you want to get out of here then I'm afraid you can't unless you finish your business, whatever that might be." he explained quickly.

"Then why are you so calm about this?" she asked.

"Because I have been here before my dear. That skeleton, he was the elder before me and told me about this place the way the elder before him had. Then, once he had died, he visited me as a corpse and brought me down here to teach me how to help those who had died. That is my role. I must try and help those who need to pass on. I will only pass on when someone replaces me and as I didn't have an apprentice, I'm going to have to visit the land of the living very often to find someone to have my job. I will also rot a lot quicker than you considering all my visits here whilst I was still living." he finished.

"You mean we can visit the land of the living?" Emily asked eagerly.

"I'm afraid only for an extremely special reason and no, no one is allowed unless they remember for sure someone from their life. Try now to remember someone, perhaps what your parents look like?"

Emily thought for a moment, tried to picture her parents' faces but nothing came. She should be able to remember, shouldn't she?

"I… can't. But then, you remembered that skeleton."

"Because that is my role. I don't know why but for some reason people like me remember what is important in order for us to help others passing on."

"I think I understand. But, I think I need some time." Emily slowly got up and left. Elder Gutknect just smiled sadly after her. He knew that her story would become known everywhere and be the saddest and most tragic yet. He knew that even if he didn't know her death story.

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Well, there's another chapter. I know this is slow progress but I'm basically just writing whenever I feel like it. Plus, I'm at that point where I feel like everything I write is just... meh. However, I know how frustrating it can get when someone doesn't finish a story so I'm trying! Hope you liked it and please review!


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